Extremely rare first Apple computer sold for Rs. 3.2 crore
An extremely rare Apple-1 computer was sold for roughly $471,000 (approx. Rs. 3.2 crore) at an an auction organized by London-based Christies. What's so special about the computer? Well, the auction house describes the machine as "the first personal computer sold with a fully assembled motherboard." Surely, collectors don't set limits. And definitely not for a piece of history like the Apple-1.
Apple-1: Hand made in 1976, housed in a briefcase
The auctioned Apple-1, built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, dates back to 1976. Interestingly, it comes housed in the bottom section of a briefcase, complete with a built-in keyboard. But why the briefcase? Because Apple-1 didn't come with a case of its own and the buyer had to figure out an enclosure. In this case, it ended up in a briefcase.
And, how did Jobs describe this computer
Jobs called Apple-1 "a truly complete microcomputer system on a single PC board... an extremely powerful computer system that can be used for anything from developing programs to playing games."
This Apple-1 is one of the 200 produced units
Apple-1 originally sold for $666.66, and it is estimated that only 200 odd units were ever produced. And while most of the machines couldn't last till today, the enthusiast-run Apple 1 Registry says 80 or so are still in existence. Notably, in 2014, another auctioned Apple-1 fetched $905,000 (Rs. 6.3 crore) from the Henry Ford Museum.
Meanwhile, here's a look at the specifications of Apple-1
Back in the day, Apple-1 sold for a hefty near-$700 price tag as it really is one of the first few machines that heralded the home computing revolution. The machine is powered by a white ceramic MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor along with 8K bytes RAM (divided into two 4K chips) and comes with two Triad power supply modules.
The auctioned Apple-1 also came with great extras
As part of the auction, the Apple-1 leather briefcase also came with extra pieces of history including three original Apple-1 operation manuals, a magazine article written by Steve Jobs as well as a slide of Apple's original logo, among other things.
